Penicuik man's crusade to cull grey squirrels
Haggis Eaters Weekly!
A Penicuik man has launched a crusade to rid the land around his home of grey squirrels.
In the past three years, Hamish Jack (69) has shot more than 200 of the creatures as they strayed into his Marchburn Drive garden.
And, even after police confiscated his gun, Mr Jack has continued his one-man battle by introducing a trap, before drowning the creatures and throwing their bodies in nearby woods.
However, the Scottish SPCA has warned that people using this method could face prosecution.
Mr Jack, a private hire driver, whose exploits were raised at Penicuik and District Community Council on Monday evening, told the Advertiser he had been forced to take action because grey squirrels were "vandals", causing "incredible damage" to his property as well as the bird feeders and nests.
"Over a period of two years, I have shot more than 200 of them.
"Then somebody objected to me shooting squirrels in the garden and reported me to the police."
Mr Jack said drowning the squirrels in water was "the best way" of killing the creatures before "chucking them in the woods to be taken away by foxes".
"They are not native to this country so the sooner we get rid of them the better," said Mr Jack.
"And as long as the grey squirrel population is here the red squirrel population will gradually decrease. A cull is definitely needed.
"It is high time something was done at local authority level because they are not going away unless they are culled."
The SSPCA said that a cull, for population or disease control, should be a last resort and measures implemented must be humane.
Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn added: "The SSPCA does not view drowning as a humane method. Anyone caught using this method could potentially face prosecution."
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